The Liturgical Season of Lent

This Wednesday, Feb. 10th, is Ask Wednesday. Ashes will be distributed at the 8:00am and 7:00pm Masses. The ashes are a sign of our willingness to repent, to change our lives for the better. In the Ash Wednesday gospel, we are called to prayer, alms giving and fasting. Supporting the Bishop's Appeal is a good way to give alms. For fasting we are asked to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, this is a refrain from eating between meals. On the Friday's of Lent, we are asked to abstain from eating meat. Also in the back of the church there are Rice Bowls to help with our Lenten sacrifices. In the Rice Bowl repentance, for whatever we give up in Lent, we put the equivalent amount in the Rice Bowl so that at the end of Lent when we donate the money saved to a charitable purpose, someone else will benefit from our sacrifices. Also in the back of the church are Lenten prayer booklets which correspond to the daily Lenten readings from scripture. We ask a $1 donation for these booklets. May all of us willingly participate in the spirit of Lent.